Thread by @ClintSmithIII

Wouldn’t be a proper New Year’s Day without acknowledging that on this day 155 years ago Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which is one of the most important but misunderstood documents in American history. Here’s why:

Contrary to what many people are taught, the Emancipation Proclamation didn’t completely end slavery.

The proclamation was military document that only applied to states that had seceded from the Union. It also left slavery untouched in the border states.

The Emancipation Proclamation didn’t apply to parts of the Confederacy that were already under Northern control.

Furthermore, any measure of its enforcement relied on Union military success.

Lincoln knew he needed the border states to hold the Union together & they were already teetering on edge.

He had previously tried to convince the border states to accept gradual emancipation which would’ve included compensation for slave owners, but they turned it down.

Another important part of the document was that it allowed for slaves & freed black folks to serve in the Union military.

Over 200,000 would go on to serve in the army & navy throughout the remainder of the Civil War.

Also, popular culture often makes it seem as if Lincoln is singularly responsible for deciding to free the slaves.

The truth is that abolitionists had been fighting for this for decades. Frederick Douglass & others played an instrumental role in pushing Lincoln.

There’s also much to be said about Lincoln’s own racial politics. Although he abhorred slavery, he conveyed on a range of occasions that he didn’t think black people were equal to whites. As he did below from the one of the Lincoln-Douglas debates.

(Though some scholars say that what he espoused in public was different than what he actually felt & he only conveyed these ideas for political purposes)

Nonetheless, the Emancipation Proclamation was hugely important in ultimately ending enslavement. As Eric Foner says, “Slavery didn’t die on January 1, 1863, but it was the death knell that slavery would die if the Union won the Civil War.”

You should also read Foner’s book, where he lays this all out very impressively:

amazon.com/Fiery-Trial-Ab…

(A couple more points to add to this regarding Lincoln’s personal politics around race since some have asked for clarification)

More than anything, Lincoln believed in the rule of law, which frustrated abolitionists.

When he was a young attorney he worked on a case in which he returned an enslaved mother & her children to their master. He also worked on a case where he freed a different enslaved woman.

These sorts of things may have seemed like contradictions to many, but for Lincoln (especially early in his life) it was consitent with a deep belief in the power of the American legal system over one’s personal ideology.

After he signed the Emancipation Proclamation, Abraham Lincoln said that he had no problem with “intelligent negro men” who fought in the Civil War having the right to vote.

But only for them, didn’t believe in full-scale black enfranchisement.

One of the things to admire most about Lincoln is how his ideas evolved over time & how he was open to being pushed on his views.

His views on race were far from perfect, still worth considering where he would’ve ended up if he hadn’t been assassinated.

And if you don’t have time to read Foner’s book, you can listen to this conversation where he discusses its major themes & ideas here: